


SeQurity Check

by rougesage



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fluff, Heated Moments, Idiots in Love, No Your Name, Q Continuum, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, Stolen Moments, You go by ensign only in this, no y/n, x Reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:13:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29644215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rougesage/pseuds/rougesage
Summary: Picard asks you, an Ensign, to do a security check, which should be simple, but a direct order most likely means a promotion is in the works. Q bugs you and asks you some questions while you're checking up on things. He wants to help out, but in a very Q manner. Some feelings come to his mind, and he realizes his constant hijinks is because he cares about you so much. Just a oneshot.
Relationships: Q (Star Trek)/Female Reader, Q (Star Trek)/Original Female Character(s), Q (Star Trek)/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	SeQurity Check

When Captain Picard asked you to file a report about the current scope of the USS Enterprise, you were definitely up to the task. Plus, you can’t ignore direct orders from your Captain, considering that he is pretty much the only one in charge of your livelihood at the moment. You need to give a thorough dissertation about the state of every security measure in place for the Officer’s quarters, the Bridge, and the holodeck. If there were issues, you needed to fix them, and you needed to write that in your report, too.

Even though you were fairly sure you could complete this within the day, it was without a doubt rather frustrating that Picard had given this task to you. Not because you had better things to do (other than the menial tasks an Ensign  _ has  _ to do, you were better suited to bothering Dr. Crusher about silly medical questions), but because it would give you unwanted attention by your fellow crew members, so you would have to do your best to accomplish this without any dilly-dallying.

Everyone believed direct orders were a sign of soon promotions, and you were sure anyone would try to sabotage you out of it. You wanted, more than anything, to become a part of the Lieutenant class, to finally be apart of the teams who would explore new planets in their adventures and pursual for knowledge. You just didn’t want anyone screwing this up for you, because a task done well leads to ( _ well,  _ probably more tasks) reaping some benefits.

“Ensign, you can proceed now.” Picard said, not unkindly. You nodded, and grabbed the PADD, walking to the turbolift.

“Thank you, sir.” He gave you a firm nod, and you were on your way. 

* * *

Heading to the specific quarters you had been assigned, it seemed as if Picard specifically wanted you to check out Lieutenant Worf’s quarters, as well as Commander Troi’s. You especially loved Troi, because she was the first to tell you how you were feeling, before you even really felt it. Obviously, that  _ was  _ her gift, but it came in handy. Like when you were on the edge of feeling sick about the udon noodles you had replicated, and Troi had made you head to the Sick Bay. She had been completely right to do so, because you had keeled over, right at Dr. Crusher’s feet.

“Damn red shirts.” Crusher had said at the time.

Fixing your badge on the crimson sweater, you knocked on the door, making sure Worf was not in. You scanned the PADD, which let you inside. A good sign.

Turning towards the security panel, you began to preen at it, knowing that most panels on the Enterprise were solidly glued and screwed on. You had all but pulled off the panel, when you heard a telltale  _ whoosh  _ behind you.

Groaning, you turned, hoping it wasn’t who you thought it was. Surely, just this one time, no hijinks would occur?

Q was staring at you, blinking in confusion, and then clapping your shoulders. His typical Captain’s uniform was on, and his hair was somehow (as per usual) completely disheveled, despite you knowing that the godlike life form was totally capable of fixing his hair permanently. It was a conscious choice on his part, the witty, irritating personality that he had. Constantly messing up everything, and choosing to do so just for his entertainment.

“Ensign. I thought I’d find your rather naive self here. What  _ ever _ are you doing here in Worf’s room?” 

Before you could even honestly say what was at hand, Q snapped his fingers and you were both sitting on Worf’s bed. “Enjoying a bit of fun, snooping in other people’s rooms? Of course, even when your kind chooses to not be utterly boring, you still go about it in the most  _ human _ of ways.” He drawled on, leaning in conspiratorially. You looked at him, failing to recall, as he perched on his arm, tilting his head. Despite Q’s height, his hair had just brushed your own, something he had clearly also done on purpose.

An omnipotent would never do something by mistake, even if he was currently looking away. You moved back, hitting the PADD, and then remembered.

“No, Q, I’m not like you.” You got up, and Q followed almost immediately, right behind you. “I have some tasks to do.”

“How  _ frightfully _ tedious.” Q yawned, and then wrapped his arm around your neck. “How about, you let me just finish whatever tasks you have for you? It will take me a _ much  _ less amount of time, than your slow processing speeds could ever even  _ figure _ to accomplish.” He laughed mirthlessly. 

“No, you can’t!” You ducked under his arm, and looked up at him, as he stared back, grinning at your silly antics. You could sense that he was trying to make a game out of this, but you didn’t want to mess with him. Behind that grin was a malicious source of power, and you never wanted to be on the burning side of it. He attempted to reach for your PADD, but you had placed it inside your sweater, which was a line even Q did not want to cross.

“Why  _ ever _ not, dear Ensign?” 

“I need to do this on my own, because Picard might actually notice my hard work, and then, you know, I could get promoted to Lieutenant, and finally explore planets-”

Q stared, amused at your antics, as you stuttered to a stop. You didn’t want to be anxious in front of him, knowing that he would probably find a way to use to against you. But you had said too much.

“You all have such goals, such admirable,  _ albeit _ foolish attempts into foraying into something greater. Such sad self importance when there is hardly anything to offer.” He was very clearly gloating, trying his best to win your deference. Gods do as gods will do, anyways. You weren’t so easily swayed.

“I don’t particularly care for that, though. I don’t even really care about being a Lieutenant. I just want to know more about what’s out there.”

“I could just take you there.” He countered. “Why risk your increasingly perishable life on a mission?”

He was trying to piss you off, and even though you were trying to keep your resolve, to just finish your work, something inside your supposedly puny soul snapped.

“Well, just like  _ you  _ have an egotistical need to conquer every bit of the Alpha and Beta quadrants, I want to know things  _ for myself. _ ” You scowled at him, and his eyes twinkled, obviously charmed by the reaction you had so generously given him.

“ _ Oh _ , oh, Ensign, are you saying we’re not so incomparable after all?” He blinked his eyes coquettishly. You attempted to push him aside, splaying your hands across his chest, but he grasped your wrist. You were always at his disposal anyways.

“I never knew you had in you to be so  _ vitriolic, _ ” There it was, a further push by Q to make you yell at him, and possibly end up not finishing your tasks. 

“What, do you think humans are nice all the time?” You sighed, abandoning any civility you may have had before.

“Starfleet Officers tend to be so. Not that they actually are, they just have to be.” He replied. “Your lot is usually _ muted  _ and  _ dulled _ into mediocrity, so you don’t ever offend anyone.”

“You see what you want to see, Q.” You retorted. “I’m not a puppy. I can do what I want. Just because  _ you _ have ultimate power doesn’t mean we don’t have similar minds.”

You shrugged at him, as he began to stare, vividly, past your eyes, into something more. He was probably probing around a bit, wanting to see just what you meant. To him, your mind was nothing more than an infant’s, hardly comparable to his vast incomprehensible intellect. It was rather  _ alien _ , seeing Q’s eyes zero in on something, that you had no control over giving. You shuddered.

“Aren’t you just mesmerizing? As capable as you are stunning. Now that’s a rarity, for your kind.” Q suddenly murmured, after you had mouthed off at him so nonchalantly.

You paused, no longer trying to jerk your hand away from his grasp. It’s not that compliments weren’t typical of Q, it’s that you were thrown off guard by how affectionate his tone was. Q was always kind of an asshole, doing his best to never let people really understand him, while giving them a vast amount of opportunities to feel like they did know him. He would saturate the Enterprise’s crew with his conversational tactics about nothing in particular.

It was just a part of who he was. A bored omnipotent form doing his best to be delighted by anything, even just screwing around with people’s genuine needs. He wasn’t always a good god.

So why did he sound so serious, just now? Instead of his obtuse, glaringly blatant flirting, usually used to catch you off guard (not that it worked anymore), he had sounded startlingly real. What did he see, that had made him sound so humane? 

“I don’t know what you mean, Q.” You looked up into his eyes again, seeing almost mutual understanding about the two of you.

Shaking your head, you pushed Q aside for real, coming back to the security panel. It was no good thinking about him like that. Too dangerous, even if you knew that Q was closer to you than to others. 

You finally opened up the panel, and seeing that the wires were in place, and properly connected, you checked it off on your PADD. You shut the panel again. As you turned to leave, Q raised his arms, effectively stopping you again.

“Ensign. I can help you, just tell me  _ what  _ you’re doing.” 

“Not this again. I can’t or it won’t be real.”

“How? To everyone else it would be. No one would ever know.” He was leaning in again, chest brushing against your face. You pulled back.

“I’ll know! Isn’t  _ that _ enough for you?” You sighed, and ducked as you exited the room past his arms.

“Fine. If you won’t tell me, I’ll just ask Jean-Luc.” He raised his hand, about to snap himself out of the room, when you lunged, effectively pushing him to the ground. 

“No no no no no, you  _ can’t _ do that, or Picard will think I’m cheating at this.” You were sitting on him, his body lying flat across the ground. He was actually in shock, something you had only happened to see maybe once before.

You crawled up, so that your face was just over his, placing your hands next to his head. “Promise me you  _ won’t  _ do that, Q. That would be even worse than you helping me. I don’t understand why you won’t just let me do this.”

His eyes softened, and you felt like he was understanding. Maybe he wasn’t so malevolent after all. He scoffed, but ever so gently moved some of your hair out of your and his face. 

“I will  _ never  _ understand why mortals don’t want help, but fine.” He sighed, turning a little red. You had never seen Q turn red,  _ ever.  _ Everything was simply a pantomime of feelings to him, usually.

He didn’t want to feel anything. It was typical that he would do his best to make people feel a little uncomfortable in their space. He was the one to lean in, smile, brush against people, just constantly be right next to him. So when you jumped on top of him like this, he felt a weird sort of unexpected warmth. Not necessarily uncomfort.

You finally got off him, glad that you had got him to agree to your terms, and stood up, about to head to Deanna’s quarters. Before you even took a step, Q wrapped his arms around you, lifting you up, and you were lost in white.

* * *

“Q!” You shoved him, as he began to laugh again. “Didn’t you  _ just  _ say that you weren’t going to help me?”

“Well, am I doing your tasks? No, isn’t that right, Ensign? Who’s to say I couldn’t just toss you around to speed things up a bit. That’s not against your impertinent terms.” He leaned against the wall, rolling his eyes.

You were in Deanna’s room, which was fine, but the matter of how you had got there seemed… unfair. You didn’t have time to lament about it, so you let it go.

Opening the panel with some undue aggression, you saw that once again, wires were in place, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Mumbling to yourself in annoyance, you checked it off on the PADD. 

“Ensign, your irate manner  _ pains _ me.” Q walked towards you, not in the friendly way he had before, but with a calm, eerie composure. You turned, a little startled by his voice, and he had you against the panel.

“Do you  _ know _ what I offer you? What I could do, to any such tiny living thing? Living, living, living, but it’s not actually true in the _ slightest _ . You barely live in comparison to me.” His arms were on the panel, caging you towards him, and forcing you to keep your eyes at him.

“You have such arrogance, to think that you can tell me what to do, and then continue as if my help is somehow paining you.” He sounded more commanding, and you stilled, knowing that you had probably crossed a line.

“You still agreed to it.” You raised your eyebrows at him. “My apologies if I was too-”

“I would do  _ anything  _ for you, and I know you have not considered that harshly enough.” He lifted his arms again, letting you move away from the panel. He was still a little too close.

You felt dumb. Did you really think Q was one to mess around all the time? Especially when he had just admitted that he clearly cared for you much more than other human people. It just felt a little rude to the rest of the Enterprise if you had Q to help out.

Giving him a pointed look, you decided it was fine to accept his help. But only as long as he wasn’t making it apparent to everyone else. You reached up, wrapping your arms around his neck, as he placed his hand to the small of your back. He winked at you, and you rolled your eyes.

And you were lost in white again, until you arrived at the holodeck. Q immediately began pressing random buttons, trying to simulate something.

“What are you trying to simulate?” You bumped into his side, prying open the security panel again. It was, once again, in perfect condition. You were sure that because the security was so good everywhere, you basically had nothing significant to do, meaning that Picard would not be seeing how exceptional you are today. It was a moot point.

“Nothing, I’m just tampering with it so that it really takes you to the real world, my dear.” Ignoring that last comment, you slapped his arm as he chortled. You pulled his arm and he stopped.

“ _ What  _ could be wrong now…” He drawled, and nudged your forehead with his own.

“I’m- I’m a little worried, Q. I haven’t really done anything extensive today.” Your mouth twisted in worry, and Q’s eyes darted towards your lips. He was typically already tall and dark, but you had never seen his eyes become intense in almost a fond way.

Q himself was unsure the depths of human notions that was within him, but he wasn’t complaining. He was still a god. “No use in straining your cute little head. There’s still one more to go. Do  _ not _ fear.” 

And he tapped your forehead, causing you to be pulled onto a turbolift suddenly.

* * *

Picard was sitting at his usual seat, thinking about something as the clever man usually would. He wanted to get some earl grey tea, but he heard the turbolift open, and he sighed. He turned, expecting you to come and check up on the Bridge security panel anyways.

You flinched as Picard made eye contact with you, as Q was still right next to you. His hands were still roaming around your waist, as they typically would be, and you felt your heart pace at the idea that Picard had just found out Q was helping you. Not a good look.

Q leaned towards your ear, his breath brushing against it. “He can’t see me. I’m  _ offended _ you would think that I would forget about your speculative ideal situation.”

You gulped, and proceeded towards the security panel, as Picard was lost in thought. You hoped nothing strange would happen. Picard was a totally normal man, but Q wasn’t even a human. You had no clue what he was up to.

Prying open the final security panel, you saw that the wires were all misaligned. One of them had been totally chewed up and fried. How did this happen in such a short period?

“I gave you a chance to prove yourself. Now have at it, Ensign.” Q said.

“ _ What?  _ Why? What if things go poorly-”

“Hush. You’re routinely undermining yourself. You can easily do this.” He leaned in, putting his cheek basically next to yours. You shivered, the contact pulling you out of your concern. “This is all I could do without completing your tasks yourself. So please do  _ not  _ assume this is a poor gift, or I will forever call you ungrateful.”

The easy part was fixing the misaligned wires. You had no trouble readjusting and placing them where they needed to be. But what about the messed up, chewed up one? That needed a replacement, and that was going to make this into a much bigger deal than it had to be. The rubber was essentially _ gone _ . 

You could ask Picard, but he had told you to do repairs on your own. And with Q leaning down your shoulder like this, it was going to be hard to ask the replicator to make a replacement wire. He had trapped you on purpose, his body warmth and hands keeping you against the panel, yet again.

Suddenly you came to an understanding. Q wanted you to ask  _ him  _ for help, devious as he was. It was so clear that you were astonished you didn’t understand sooner. 

Q chuckled. “So now, my dear friend, you understand. Are you going to let me help you?”

“Q- I can’t. I still want to do this on my own.”

He sighed, annoyed that you were still being obtuse. “Oh, really? How arbitrary of your rules, that you let me bring you around the starship, and yet somehow this is too far. How is this  _ any  _ different from using the replicator?”

“Well, I could just use the replicator if you just moved-”

“Ah ah, no moving.” He pushed his arms closer together, making your back flush against his chest. “Just give me this one thing, Ensign. It’s not really an advantage.”

You sighed. You knew he was trying to make you give up your “human bound honor code” but it was true that, this wasn’t really an advantage. Besides, he was going to smite you or something if you didn’t allow him to do something, just this once.

You nodded, and Q grinned, grabbing your hand, and placing it inside the panel, where Picard could not see. He clenched your hand, and there was a small white flash. In your hand was the replacement wire.

You removed the original wire, and carefully installed the new one, taking care that it still routed back to the other wires. Satisfied, you closed the panel, and entered the information on the PADD. Minus the stuff about Q giving you the wire, embellishing that with “I had a spare wire in my pocket.”

As you walked to Picard, Q ruffled your hair and disappeared again, leaving you to it.

“Sir. The file you wanted about security.”

“Oh, right Ensign. Thank you. Any trouble today?” Picard seemed to just be talking generally,

“Not really sir, nothing I couldn’t do.” You nodded at him as he took the file, and he smiled.

“Perhaps in the future, we can discuss moving you up from the Ensign rank. You show great promise.” He gave one of his rare compliments, and began to check over the file.

“Dismissed.” He said, but he was still smiling.

You nodded and left, going into the turbolift again.

You breathed a sigh of relief, but not just relief, you were totally ecstatic. It seemed like Q was going to either mess up the whole day as a “lesson”, or you were never going to finish from how he was distracting you. It was not a hard task but it was wonderful to be done with it.

* * *

You had expected Q to pop up in the turbo lift (almost too excited for it? Get a control over yourself, Ensign.) but he had not shown. In fact, when you had opened the door to your quarters, Q was there, perched on your bed lazily.

“Oh, there she is.” He stood up and and placed his elbow on your shoulder, smiling. “I know you got good news, so no need to blabber about that.”

You actually smiled at him. A real genuine smile. Not the typical scowl of annoyance that you sometimes appropriately used. And he felt his heart do that  _ strange  _ thing it had done earlier, where he felt kind of warm and like he needed to be close to you. 

“You still owe it to me though.” Q grinned, a real evil looking grin where he was about to say something awful. “You’re  _ just _ as corrupt and egotistical as I am, Ensign. How does that feel?  _ Hmm _ ?”

“Oh, knock it off. Even if I am, you’re the one who did it for me. You’re not that egotistical.” You said, pushing your face into his chest.

He frowned. He didn’t expect that you would say that, but now that he thought about it, it was true. He seemed to be showing a sign of care towards you.

“I still did it for me, my dear. It’s not really anything to do with you when I just wanted to practice my abilities some more.”

You blinked at him, and started giggling. “Sure, Q, the omnipotent ultimate being needed to ‘practice’. You could just say this was an excuse to hang out with me. I won’t mind.”

He was silent, unsure of how to retort to something like that. It was kind of true. He found your company much more preferable to others on the Enterprise. You were easier to talk to, less abrasive about his general scheme, and you were rather pleasant to look at. 

But he did not realize how much he had dragged himself into caring about you. You had become something of a special human towards him, someone he was willing to listen to, even give up his own plans if you didn’t like them. He was acting foolish, being omnipotent and possibly giving away that world, that capability, to someone like you. Not that you were anything less than extraordinary, he just was not used to feeling this way about a human. He had even told you as much in Deanna’s quarters, but hearing it in his own mind reiterated it heavily. He couldn’t bear to not be by your side.

Q was so lost in thought, you had to reach up on your tippy toes to shake him. His height made him almost too tall to even reach, but you managed.

“Q?” You said, shaking his arms.

“You’re actually correct. I do want to be around you…” He sounded shocked, even that he was saying this out loud made him feel like he made a human error. But if it was for you, he didn’t mind being a bit short-sighted.

“Oh. Well, if it makes you feel better, I want to be around you too.” And you tippy toed even further, using his shoulders as leverage, and  _ kissed  _ his cheek. If Q thought he felt warm before, now he felt hot all over. His face was a bright crimson, and his heart felt like it was going to palpitate out of his chest. 

He mentally slapped himself, thinking  _ idiot, idiot, idiot,  _ but he was not sure why. He was embarrassed about something that had gone well, and it was proof you were making him more human. He also wasn’t used to you making the first move, as he was the one to always lean over you, gangly limbs and his head coming to brush against yours. 

There was still time for payback against you, who had made him into the blushing, stuttering mess, and he  _ grabbed  _ your wrist, and shut the door. He just wanted to be closer to you, after all.


End file.
